Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto or any of the lovely characters, just my OC's.
Asahina frowned, clenching Kakashi's hand. He groaned again, "Asahina…"
"I'm here, you idiot. What do you want?"
"Just making sure." His grip tightened around her hand, "I'll get up soon."
"You've been saying that for the past two days." She snapped, "Let's go to the hospital."
Gai was already flexing his muscles in preparation for a violent method of persuasion, "Kakashi! Are you ready?"
"Why is he still here?" Kakashi sighed.
She sweat dropped, "He's your best friend isn't he?"
"I don't think so." Kakashi's eye shut and Gai screamed about the injustice.
"Let's go to the hospital." Asahina frowned.
He lazily lifted his arm, "I can move. I'll get up soon. Don't worry."
Her eyes narrowed but he just chuckled. He wasn't lying. He was sure he'd get up someday but in truth he could only move his arm. His whole body protested against moving but his mind protested against going to the hospital so he was in a jam.
Gai slung his arm around Asahina's shoulders, "What do you see in this idiot?"
"A future hospital patient." She snapped, "I see a hospital patient on the inside!"
He flinched, "I see myself staying right here."
Asahina's eyebrow twitched, "Gai. Do it."
The bushy-browed jonin howled and threw Kakashi's over his shoulder, "To the hospital!"
He only had one thought as Gai flew down the street to the hospital, "How could she do this to me?"
"What? I can't hear you, Kakashi! Speak up!" Gai's laugh was booming down the nearly empty streets.
Asahina lazily followed them into the hospital to have Kakashi admitted. The nurse ran a series of tests and then left the jonin be.
Asahina smirked down at the man, "Should've just let me take you when Gai was on his break, at least you wouldn't have suffered the embarrassment of being a potato sack."
"You're losing your youthfulness, Kakashi!" Gai was still as energetic as ever, "I'll go visit Lee now so enjoy your time! Don't be too lonely without me, Asahina."
"Oh, I won't." She muttered under her breath as soon as he was out of the picture.
Kakashi's eye followed her around the room lazily as she searched for something to do, "You're bored."
"I want to go home." She suddenly said, "It's terrible here. There's nothing to do."
"Take me with you."
"No. You can just die of boredom here." She didn't like the look he was giving her. It was rather threatening for someone like Kakashi to look at someone like that. She quietly sat in the stool next to his bed and put her hand in his demanding one, "I didn't mean it."
"I didn't think so." He teased her quietly.
"Shut up."
"ASAHINA! KAKASHI!" Gai stormed back in, "I forgot to tell you the other day but Sasuke's in here too."
"Sasuke?" They exchanged looks.
"Yeah. You told me to go after him but when I caught up it was already too late. Itachi had already broken his wrist and there were some other complications." Gai admitted, "So he's here too. Just thought I would tell you."
Gai pulled up a chair next to Asahina to glare down at Kakashi, "You lucky man. You're not pretending just so she'll hold your hand, are you?"
"She would hold it even if I was pretending." Kakashi grinned.
Gai just shook his head, "You make me sick."
Kakashi tore his eyes away from the woman, "Sorry, did you say something?"
Gai shook his fist angrily into the air, "You're just playing cool! You just irritate me, my eternal rival!"
Asahina laughed, "Gai, you just cured my boredom."
"Don't worry, love. Kakashi's boring but I'll be youthful forever!"
"That's kind of disgusting." Kakashi commented, "Then you guys won't be able to grow old together."
"She's the picture of youth!" He declared, "She'll be youthful with me… Speaking of youthful, Naruto went to find the next Hokage. Tsunade-sama."
"Her?" Asahina laughed, "She's going to gamble away all our funds! I heard she was an addicted gambler."
"I don't know about that but Tsunade-sama is the picture of youth!" Gai thrust his fist into the air, "That's Asahina in the future. Age eighty in reality but only twenty in appearance!"
"Disgusting." Both Kakashi and Asahina deadpanned before breaking out into a fit of laughter.
Gai went off on the two about youth and then complained about youth and disgusting being on opposite sides of the spectrum. Yeah. Everything was fun when Gai was around.
"Hello! Is anyone here?" Kori knocked on the door of a house that was almost as familiar to her as her own front door.
An equally familiar animalistic woman opened the door and looked down at her for only a second before sighing, "Kori. I don't see why you're friends with my stupid son. Did he ask you to come for him again?"
"Ahh… He said he wanted to go on a walk in the mornings from now on so…" The Hyuga scratched her head awkwardly.
"Sorry about him. Just one second." Kiba's mother just smiled the same way she did every time before turning around and barking orders to her sleeping son, "KIBA! Get out of bed! You make her wait for you every single day! Get up before I come in there!"
If it was someone's first day coming to get him, he or she would've probably been frightened by Inuzuka Tsume's almost manly way of scolding her son but Kori was used to it all. She knew the order of things very well. Tsume would greet her like a normal person and then turn around and yell at her son. Kiba would stumble out from his room with his jacket unzipped and Akamaru on his head but she wouldn't see him just yet. After that, there would probably be an aggressive door slamming session as Kiba made his way to the bathroom. Finally he would make his way to the door way, shoving something into his mouth, and grumbling a meaningless apology through the food, where Tsume would scold her son for doing this every morning.
Today was no different. Kori could almost count down the time she would have to wait in seconds.
Kiba smiled sheepishly when his mother closed the door and retreated back into the house, "Tomorrow, could you come like ten minutes later?"
"Sure." She answered. It would be the same anyways. She would come ten minutes later the next day and then the day after and he would still go through the same ritual and then he would tell her to come at the original time and the cycle would start all over again. Kori knew that she could probably come an hour later and he would probably still be in bed when she got here.
"You promised to show me your new summoning." He lowered his hood to reveal his messy brown hair.
"When we get to the river." She had gotten quite good at summoning the little cub, Koichi, "He's cute."
Kiba's nose wrinkled as they passed the seafood restaurant, "I can't agree with you. Cats are strange either way."
"You'll like him." She laughed at the thought of the little tiger, "He's really cute."
"No guarantees there." His eyes flickered to a familiar set of beautiful legs and silver hair, "Hey. It's Yui-chan!"
The beautiful girl turned at the sound of her name, "Kiba-kun. Kori."
Kori was lucky that she was a girl. The way Yui's lips turned upward ever so slightly made Kiba's face turn a few shades of pink. There wasn't anyone who could deny that Yui was beautiful, especially when she smiled like that.
Kori waved to her teammate, "What are you doing all alone?"
"I was going to visit Sasuke but I decided against it after seeing Sakura."
Kori's face twisted into a slight expression of amusement at the look on her best friend's face, "Don't let Sakura get to you. If you really like him just go for it."
"Yeah…" Kiba stretched his mouth into the widest grin possible but it snapped back into a frown in less than a second.
"Or you could just go on a date with Kiba." She laughed.
"HEY! Why is that so funny?"
"Sorry sorry." She grinned, "Yui, I'm mean to him but he really is a good guy."
The beauty just blinked at them awkwardly, "That doesn't make any sense."
"He's my best friend. I'm supposed to be mean to him." Kori shrugged, "He bullies me all the time."
"When did I ever bully you?!" Kiba screamed at the injustice. She was supposed to be helping him. Not busily making him look like a jerk.
Yui held up a hand and inclined her head slightly, "I'll be going now. I guess I'll visit Sasuke one more time."
As soon as she was out of earshot, Kori hissed, "If you keep staring at her like that your eyes are going to fall out of your head."
He just snorted, "Staring at her like what? I wasn't staring."
"Psh. Yeah you were! Just admit it, you're head over heels for her."
There was no hiding it from Kori. Kiba scratched his cheek awkwardly, "Well… I don't dislike her."
"Hyuga Kori!"
Both Kiba and Kori groaned at the sound of the voice and turned to respond, "Ino."
"I heard Tsunade-sama's coming to be our new Hokage!" The blonde grinned.
"So?"
"So! I thought we could all get together and celebrate! She's going to heal Sasuke-kun after all." Ino squealed, "The girls, I mean."
"So we're celebrating Sasuke's recovery, before it happens? And without him?" Kori just lifted her eyebrow awkwardly, "That makes no sense."
"Just come to my house tonight at seven!" Ino jabbed her finger into the Hyuga's chest, "Don't be late."
The time she had left just flew by. Kori had made it to the river that she had cleaned several times. She showed Kiba her newest summoning, Koichi. Turns out, Kiba couldn't even resist the sparkling cute eyes of the white tiger cub. Surprisingly, Akamaru and Koichi got along quite well for a cat and a dog. They had worn themselves out beside the river before Kiba decided it was time for him to go meet with his team. They made a promise to walk again tomorrow morning before taking different paths. She made lunch for Neji and herself before practicing her summoning jutsu again until the time came for her to go to Ino's house.
Neji just shrugged and waved her away when she carefully stated her plans for the night, "Just come home at an appropriate time."
She wasn't really good friends with Ino but the girl always invited her and she never refused. She had no reason to. Ino was just trying to make friends and provide the girls with some bonding time. As usual, she was the last to arrive but the others were used to that too. Sakura and Ino were already arguing about Sasuke and Yui just seemed to be listening in quietly. It only took Ino ten minutes to realize that everyone was here. Kori made a note that that was a new record for her.
The blonde girl just tossed everyone a can of juice and opened a few bags of chips, "So… Kori, care to share what happened between you and Kakashi-sensei?"
The Hyuga nodded, this is how the gossiping begins and this is how rumors are fixed, "Nothing happened. I told Kakashi-sensei that Asahina-sensei like someone with the initials H.K and then he told Kotetsu-san and it all went downhill from there."
"Eh!" Tenten leaned forward, "So there was nothing?"
Kori's nose twitched, gossip-time was the only time Tenten was even remotely kind to her, "Nothing at all."
"Yui-chan!" Ino cut in, "What's with your sudden interest in Sasuke-kun? I hate to admit it but you guys came to this village with Sasuke-kun's team. Are you guys close?"
"Not really. I was slightly attracted that's all."
"Slightly attracted? It looked like he was into you too." Tenten shied away from the group when Ino and Sakura began their glaring, "Uhh… But you should move on to someone better. I'll introduce you to Neji if you want!"
"Tenten." Kori's voice was practically a feral growl, "How does juice sound?"
She held up her hands in defense as the younger genin held her can up threateningly, "No thanks…"
"Neji?" The gears in her brain turned with the purpose of matching a face to the name.
Hinata shy voice answered, "Her brother."
"I swear." Tenten sighed, "Your brother's going to be single for life with a sister like you."
Ino slid a magazine to them from across the room, "The main article is about cock-blocking siblings and how to get rid of them. Maybe you should show it to him."
The Hyuga nearly tore the magazine in two, "He's not old enough to be cock-blocked!"
"He's going to die a virgin then." Ino and Sakura nodded together.
"D-Don't say that." Hinata fidgeted awkwardly, "Ko-Kori-chan wouldn't go that far."
Yui made a note that Kori's face told a different story, "There's no difference. When you die, it doesn't matter."
A knock on the door ended their gossiping and odd talk. Ino turned over her shoulder, "NO WAY! Guys come here!"
The girls exchanged quick looks and dashed to the door, "What?"
"It's really her! The actress Fujikaze Yukie."
"So…? We met her before too." Kori deadpanned.
"We did?"
"When we went to eat Yakiniku?"
"EH?!" A collective scream from the girls had Ino's mother warning them to be quiet, "The girl that was attached to Kai-kun?"
"Yeah." Kori had to admit that the girl looked different now. Yukie had a more actress-like appearance today and was dressed like the ninja genius she played in her most famous movie.
"Can I call you Kori-chan?" Yukie gave her a half-smile.
"Sure… Fujikaze-san…"
"You can just call me Yukie." She was still showing the group a practiced half-smile.
"And… You're here for…?"
"Actually." She stuck out her tongue sheepishly, "You probably all know but I'm Kai-kun's fiancé."
Kori's jaw was slack, "Huh? What? You what?"
"Kai-kun had a fiancé?" Tenten sobbed, "Really?!"
"And there goes bachelor number two." Ino sighed, "Good thing number one is still available."
"Whoops. I'm sorry if you didn't know." The actress smiled coyly, "But Kai-kun has agreed to marry me if I become a good ninja. So I was wondering if you could teach me, Kori-chan."
"Why me?" Kori asked suspiciously. It seemed that the girl knew more than she was letting on.
"To put it quite bluntly, Kai-kun seemed to be completely describing you when I asked what kind of girls he liked."
"Saizo doesn't like me. He just doesn't know any girls other than me." The Hyuga waved her away, "I'm not good enough to teach anyone. Find someone else."
"It has to be you, Kori-chan." Yukie insisted, "I even came to see you properly dressed in ninja attire so that you would see my resolve."
"…" The group exchanged awkward glances but Ino finally spoke up, "I hate to break it to you, but no one dresses like that for real."
Yukie completely ignored Ino's comment, "So will you teach me?"
"A person named Tsunade is going to be our next Hokage." Kori's expression remained indifferent, "If the Hokage gives permission, you might be able to join our team but the probability that she sends you straight to the Academy is higher."
Yui frowned, "Is that how it's done in Konoha?"
"Agreed." With that, Yukie turned and left without even a goodbye and the gossip session continued.
"She did what?!" Kai snapped, "Kori. No matter what don't teach her."
Kori couldn't help but laugh. She hadn't told him about his fiancé's proposition to make him angry but apparently, he had thought Yukie wouldn't even think about taking him up on his offer. She had waited a few days before bringing it up but apparently Yukie had meant to keep it a secret from her fiancé.
"Tch." The blond ran a hand through his hair, "I'm going to give that witch a piece of my mind."
"You do that. I won't teach her if you don't want me to." She waved at his stiff shoulders until he was no longer in sight, "Now… I guess it's time to go get Kiba."
Surprisingly, the routine was broken. The Inuzuka was wide awake and sitting on the porch when she arrived at his house. His mother was standing angrily beside him. Kori couldn't help but wonder what had happened.
Tsume brightened up at the sight of the Hyuga, "Kori! I woke him up on time for you."
"Thank you." She grinned at the grumpy boy, "I guess she finally got tired of yelling."
"Shut up!" He snapped, "I told Akamaru to wake me up but he just let her have her way."
The dog whined in protest.
"Get off your lazy ass and go on that walk!" Tsume kicked her son. Hard.
Kiba groaned and grabbed the girl, "Go!"
The walk was more than unpleasant. Kiba glared at her unpleasantly. She knew exactly what he was thinking too. He was probably blaming her in his head.
"Hey. You should ask Yui to the fireworks celebration." She told him.
"Eh? For the new Hokage?" Kiba's mood was instantly lifted at the sound of the ex-mist ninja's name, "I can't."
"Why not?"
"I tried to talk to her yesterday and the whole Sasuke thing was completely blown over. She likes someone else."
"WHAT?!" Kori laughed at the thought, "I guess girls do get over the great Uchiha Sasuke. So? Who is it this time?"
Kiba's face twisted into a scowl, "Your damn brother!"
She laughed even harder at the sound of that, "She gets over Sasuke and goes straight to Neji?! Hahaha. Why Neji?"
"You didn't let me finish. I asked her who she wanted to go with and she threw out his name. And then she gave me a funny look! What is that supposed to mean?!"
"It means she likes pretty boys." The Hyuga's mind automatically compared her brother to the most popular boy around, "Hm. I never thought about it but I guess Neji's got an attractive face."
"Hey listen… I know you don't like it when people go after your brother but do you think you could get him to ask Yui to watch fireworks with him?"
"No." She answered faster than he could finish his question but then took it back, "If you want… I guess I could ask. But just cause she likes him doesn't mean you can't ask her! Especially since she only looks at people's looks, that means you have a chance!"
Kiba gave her that 'Are you serious?' look, "You think I can compete with looks when it comes to Sasuke or your brother?"
"…" She shook her head slowly, "Not really… But you've got a better personality than Sasuke at least! I can't really talk crap about my own brother…. But you've got a better sense of humor than Neji."
"Thanks but no thanks… I'll wait. For now just ask Neji to take her."
"Are you sure you don't want to at least try?"
"I'm sure." How could he not be? If the person he liked decided to like someone else, he at least wanted her to be happy. As long as Neji didn't pull any strange moves on her, he could put up with everything. If she decided to date Neji then he would wait until they broke up and he would have to like it. If they never broke up, he would have to deal with that too and pretend he was happy the whole way. To him, that's what it means to like someone.
News of the Hokage's Inauguration Celebration reached Toshizo late at night but he wasn't about to ask his crush. It was too big of a hurdle for him so he just decided to use work as an excuse to pull him away from it. He wanted to ask her but again, he wasn't even sure that she knew his name. The one thing he did know is that he was pulling a Hinata. He knew the shy girl often hid and watched Naruto in secret and that was exactly what he was doing to his crush.
The door to his family's store jingled as it opened. He spun around, "Welcome!"
"Um…" The brunette held a covered Styrofoam cup in front of her bowed head, "He-Here!"
"Eh?" He blinked down at her across the counter for a few moments before he finally realized what was happening, "What?"
"U-Umm… It's co-coffee." She stuttered, "F-For delivering the knives yesterday…"
"Ahh… O-Okay."
She frowned deeply, "Y-You don't drink coffee?"
He quickly moved to accept the cup, "Thanks…"
She flashed him the brightest smile he had ever seen with a sigh of relief, "Oh thank god… I-I didn't know what I was going to do if you said you didn't drink coffee."
He smiled and nodded, "You didn't have to bring me anything."
"N-No… I-I-I wanted to!" She squeaked.
"Do you even know who I am?" He asked, kind of surprised. Was she the type of person to give presents to strangers?
"Tsukara Toshizo-senpai…" She answered, "You're on K-Kai-senpai's team…"
Well… At least she knew his name, even if it was only because he was on Kai's team. He didn't know whether he should be grateful or hateful.
"U-Umm…" She stuttered, "I-I'll see you again!"
"Eh?" He just stood with the cup in his hands as she turned a literally ran away, "Did I do something wrong?"
Why were girls so complicated to him?